Ask the CDC to report accurate data on these pro-life Family Planning Methods

Join our petition to ask the Center for Disease Control to report accurate data on the side-effect free and effective family planning method known as Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs).

We have the power to move the CDC to make a change that will help so many women and couples! But we have to act today.

When Noelle* and her husband, parents of three, decided that they wanted to delay another pregnancy, she was put on “the shot,” at her doctor’s suggestion.

Quickly, she gained weight and became depressed, moody and angry.

Was there no other solution for Noelle?

There was, there is: highly effective family planning options with no side-effects at all called Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs).

While not all women experience side-effects from contraceptives, when they do, most doctors won’t think of suggesting FABMs because of their perceived low effectiveness…even though FABMs would eliminate some of the complaints their patients have and in fact have proven high rates of effectiveness when used to avoid pregnancy.

Like Noelle’s doctor, most medical professionals, along with prominent websites on women’s health and reports in the media, generally discount this option, because they are told that FABMs have a 24% “failure” rate[i].

But this rate is not accurate.

Based on the most up-to-date and highest quality published medical research, the effectiveness rates of FABMs with correct use are between 95 and 99.5%, depending on the method[ii]. Even with typical use, the effectiveness rates of FABMs are comparable to most commonly used forms of birth control.

Where do the medical professionals and the media get this misleading information? All refer to the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which published a report in 2011 that lists FABMs as the least effective method. But this data is based on one study with a low quality research design. (Please keep reading to learn the specific problems with this study).

As a result, FABMs are often not even presented to women as an option. Yet up to 61% of women would be interested in these methods to avoid pregnancy if they were properly informed about them.[iii], [iv]

Fertility Awareness Based Methods are left out of women’s viable family planning options in large part because the information published by the CDC does not accurately reflect effectiveness rates for individual FABMs based on the highest quality research. Since many health professionals and medical organizations rely on the CDC for accurate information, it is very important that we ask the CDC to update its website with evidence-based data that shows the accurate effectiveness rates of modern FABMs for preventing pregnancy.

Correct information is KEY to helping women make their own informed choices about family planning methods.

This is why we are asking you urgently to sign the petition below. We need 100,000 signatures to convince the CDC to reconsider this crucialissue and to get them to update their website.

Why is the CDC reporting inaccurate data about FABM effectiveness rates? The CDC report is based on a study with a low-quality research methodology,[v] which explains why its conclusions are so far from what quality studies show us. Here are the key problems with the study quoted by the CDC:

First bias: The effectiveness rates are based on a retrospective survey. Specifically, in 1995 and 2002, the research team surveyed about 18,000 women and asked them to recall the method of birth control they were using when they got pregnant.[vi],[vii] Recall is a weak measure. The respondents could have used a mix of methods. Any description that sounded like a fertility awareness method was put in the “periodic abstinence” group.

Second bias: The authors put much older, low-tech methods, including the calendar rhythm method, in the same basket as modern, standardized, and proven FABMs such as the Sympto-Thermal and Ovulation methods. In fact, 86% of those whom the study identified as FABM users stated they used the calendar rhythm method—a much older and less effective method developed in the 1930s—as their primary form of contraception. But lumping together old and new natural methods masks important differences in their effectiveness, a fact acknowledged by the author of the study. It would be akin to putting all progesterone methods like the Mirena IUD and the mini-pill in the same category and then classifying them together as having one lower effectiveness rate.

So, what is the truth about effectiveness rates of FABMs that the CDC needs to report? Here is the evidence-based data of 4 of the most popular methods based on an article published in May 2013 by the Osteopathic Family Physician Journal and a more recent study of the Marquette method.[viii]

Sympto-thermal Method: pregnancy rate with perfect use 0.4%, with typical use 1.6%

Marquette Method: pregnancy rate with perfect use 0%, with typical use 6.8%

Billings Ovulation Method®: pregnancy rate with perfect use 1.1%, with typical use 10.5%

Standard Days Method: pregnancy rate with perfect use 4.8%, with typical use 11.9%As you see, these unintended pregnancy rates are far from the 24% rate put forth by the CDC. Therefore, we need the CDC to report these up-to-date effectiveness rates!

Additionally, we need to make sure the CDC updates their information so health care professionals will be properly informed, as only 3 to 6% of physicians[ix] know the true effectiveness of these safe, side-effect free methods of family planning. This may be why few are telling women about these methods.

But working together, YOU and I can change this and make sure all women receive accurate, up-to-date information. That is why we are asking you to sign the enclosed petition and forward it to all of your friends and colleagues.

In fact, on April 21, 2016, the prestigious American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), which represents over 120,000 members, wrote an official request to the Department of Health and Human Services asking that the effectiveness rating be changed. They wrote:

“Family physicians need accurate data to share with patients who are making family planning decisions. The AAFP would, therefore, like to request that the CDC update the effectiveness rates quoted for these methods in the ‘Effectiveness of Family Planning Methods’ resource.”

To date, two years later, there has been no public response. No apparent action was taken to consider the evidence offered by the AAFP.

Women who have experienced side effects from hormonal or other types of birth control need to know there are other viable options, such as FABMs. Indeed the World Health Organization recognizes FABMs as the only methods of family planning with no medical side effects[x]; whereas hormonal birth control may have a myriad of side effects, ranging from mild symptoms, such as nausea, bleeding or breast tenderness, to more severe ones such as an increased risk of blood clots, certain types of cancer or stroke. In fact, research shows almost two thirds of women who stopped using hormonal birth control did so because of adverse side effects.[xi]

We are not advocating that access to artificial forms of birth control be limited. We are simply advocating that accurate information about FABMs be provided to the public.

This is why your signature is urgently needed. If we don’t take action, nothing will change.

Together, we need to speak up and ask the CDC to update their report. This is important for women, for couples, and for the medical professionals who advise them. Without correct information, health professionals may not routinely present these options to women and thus, women cannot make truly informed choices regarding family planning.

It is important to note there are many benefits for women and couples who use FABMs:

These methods cost much less than birth control.

Multiple studies show that couples who use FABMs report it improves their relationships.[xii] [xiii]

Young women who learn to use FABMs are empowered and gain self-confidence and self-control.[xiv]

Couples interested in getting pregnant will increase their chances to do so by better understanding when they may be fertile.[xv]

If the CDC updates the report of FABM effectiveness rates, it will be a huge game-changer for women’s health. Doctors may be more likely to discuss these methods with their patients. More women will learn about these methods and benefit from a highly effective, self-managed method, with no-side effects at all. Not only that, but they will better understand their bodies and learn a life-long skill.

We need this change for the sake of women’s health. But without your voice, the CDC may not act. Please support and sign this petition now. Act today and make your voice heard to ensure every physician and every woman has access to accurate, up to date information. Act today to ask the CDC to report the correct effectiveness rates of FABMs.

We intend to use your signature and others to make sure a united voice is heard in the press and at the US Department of Health and Human Services. To have the greatest impact we need to gather 100,000 signatures, so PLEASE SIGN it, and then share it with friends and family!

With your support, we will make sure the voices of thousands of Americans are heard.

Thank you very much for your help in making a difference! Our website is highly secure and your contact information will remain strictly confidential. We have an iron-clad anti-spam policy. We need as many signatures as possible to urgently move this important matter forward.

[xiii] Unseld M, Rötzer E, Weigk R, Masel EK, Manhart MD. Use of Natural Family Planning (NFP) and its effect on couple relationships and sexual satisfaction: a Multi-country survey of NFP Users from US and Europe, Frontiers in Public Health, March 2017

A survey of more than 2500 people that use Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs) from several Western countries showed that a large majority of them view these methods positively due to improved self-knowledge, relationships, and satisfaction with frequency of sexual intercourse.

Yet, in the United States, less than 5% of women use natural methods of family planning, including the sympto-thermal method, the primary method used by people in this study and one of the most effective ones available based on large individual prospective trials.

This may be due in part to the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website currently reports that the combined typical “failure rate” for all FABMs, also known as “natural methods,” is 24%.

This rate misrepresents the actual effectiveness of individual modern FABMs. Based on the highest quality published medical research, the effectiveness rates of FABMs with correct use are between 95.2 and 99.6%, depending on the method. Even with typical use, the effectiveness rates of FABMs are comparable to most commonly used forms of birth control, with unintended pregnancy ranging from 2-14%.

The 24% “failure rate” quoted by the CDC comes from a retrospective surveybased on patient recall, a flawed methodology which is less likely to report accurate success rates.

Additionally, the study’s authors failed to account for the fact that FABMs can be used both to avoid or achieve pregnancy as “it was assumed that there was a contraceptive failure if a method was used continuously before and after conception of a pregnancy.”

Furthermore, in the survey, 86% of the respondents reported using variations of the calendar rhythm method—an outdated and less effective fertility awareness-based method—as their primary form of contraception. This lumping together of FABMs masks important differences in the effectiveness of modern methods, which utilize various observations of specific physical signs to prospectively determine the fertile window.

That’s why we are asking the CDC to update its website to reflect the best data available and to cite the individual effectiveness rate of each unique type of evidence-based FABM, for example: Billings Ovulation Method®, Creighton Model, Sympto-Thermal, Sympto-Hormonal, and Standard Days Methods.

Women and medical professionals deserve accurate information about effective ways to prevent pregnancy based on the best research available. FABMs are increasingly in demand as women seek effective family planning options that are free from hormones and side effects.

Indeed the World Health Organization recognizes that FABMs are the only methods of family planning with no medical side effects.

It has been reported that up to 61% of women say they would be interested in using these methods to avoid pregnancy if they were properly informed about them. Yet only 3 to 6% of medical professionals xii are aware of the actual effectiveness rates of FABMs. As a result, women may not have access to FABMs.

Only the CDC is in a position to correct this misinformation.

We appreciate your consideration of this urgent matter and count on your understanding of the needs of physicians and the women they serve and your commitment to share the most up to date, high-quality data.

Sincerely,[Your Name]

Ask the CDC to report accurate data on these pro-life Family Planning Methods

Sign this petition now!

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